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Thursday, January 5, 2012

KOREAN RECIPE: Rice Cake Soup

떡국(Ddeokguk)

A hearty bowl of ddeokguk served on my family table on New Year’s Day

Seasonal Customs of the Eastern
Kingdom (1849) (Dongguk Sesigi),
in which the Eastern Kingdom refers to Joseon Dynasty then and Korea now, mentions
that rice cake soup (ddeokguk) is a dish
made with thinly and evenly sliced rice cake ovals in beef or Korean pheasant meat broth
and tossed with Korean red chili powder (gochugaru);
it
is a must dish to have on New Year’s Day since it is served on charyesang, a table set for dead
ancestors at a memorial service and also
on a table for guests (who come over to do sebae,
a customary Korean New Year’s Day greeting which is performed with a big bow).

Korean pheasant meat (ggweong gogi)
was traditionally favored for making the broth as it guarantees the ultimate taste when used in rice cake soup. When it was not
available though, chicken was often substituted for it. A famous Korean
maxim, “A chicken instead of a pheasant” (Ggweong daesin dalk), is from this food custom. Its English equivalent can be “If
you can’t get a horse, ride a cow.” Both
roughly mean “When your first choice is not available, go for the second best
at hand.”

A big bowl of rice cake soup will definitely comfort, nourish, and
sooth you any day, especially when you are feeling under the weather, as well
as on New Year’s Day.

INGREDIENTS
(2 Servings):

●
9 oz rice cake ovals,* soaked in water at least for an hour

Toppings

● 1 egg

● 1
sheet gim* (laver)

● 1
green onion, chopped

Soup Stock

[Almost Vegetarian]

● 4
cups water

● 2 TBSP
dried Korean anchovy powder**

● 1 TBSP
dried pyogo (shiitake) powder**

● 1 TBSP
dried dasima (sea tangle) powder**

● 2
tsp garlic, minced

● 1 TBSP
gukganjang* (Korean soy sauce for soup) to
taste (optional)

● salt
and pepper to taste

If you prefer clean broth, use the ingredients with double asterisk as is. For this recipe, you’ll need a fistful of dried anchovies, two or three dried pyogo, and two 2x2 inch dasima. Just don’t forget to remove these ingredients from the broth after simmering for 10~15 minutes.

[Vegetarian]
● If you want to make vegetarian rice cake soup, minus the anchovies
and add 2 more 2x2 inch dasima squares and 1/2 midium size onion
for the broth instead.

[Meat Lovers]
● If you prefer, you can substitute beef or chicken stock for anchovy-
pyogo-dasima mixture stock. In this case, add two more cups of water
in the pot and simmer 1/2 lb chicken breast or beef tenderloin for an hour
over medium heat, and remove the meat from the broth.
Many Koreans love to season the boiled meat with salt, pepper, garlic,
and sesame oil to use it for topping that I’d rather do without.

*You can find rice cake ovals, gim, and gukganjang in your local Korean markets. Brown rice cake ovals can be substituted for
white ones as brown rice is a delicious and healthy alternative
to white rice.

**You can find dried
Korean anchovies, dried pyogo, and dried dasima in your local Korean
markets. I always have these ingredients handy in my freezer to make
MSG-free soup anytime I want. Most of the anchovies, pyogo, and dasima
are ground separately in a blender and stored separately in a jar. Some
are stored in zipper bags as is.

1.
Put the separated egg white and yolk in a separate bowl. Add 1 tbsp of water into the yolk bowl. Whisk each with a fork until smooth.

2.
Smear a small skillet with oil using a spray or brush. The oil should be thinly spread to cover the
whole pan. Heat the pan over high heat for two minutes until it is hot, then
reduce the heat to medium or medium-low.

3.
Put your egg white in the skillet. Holding
onto the handle of the skillet, remove it from the heat and swirl the skillet
so the egg white forms a circle and coats the bottom of the pan. You want to
make the coating as thin as possible. When the egg white loses its shine,
turn it over and remove it from the skillet shortly.

4.
Repeat step 3 to cook egg yolk.

5.
Slice egg white and yolk thinly.

● If you feel too lazy, you can
just skip this part and simply crack open the egg into a bowl, and whisk
until well combined. Then pour the
beaten egg directly over the broth and simmer.

TOPPING
2: Thinly Sliced Toasted Laver (김, Gim)

1.
Heat a large, dry pan over high heat for two minutes until it is hot, then lightly
toast the laver on each side. Be careful
not to burn it.

2.
Cut the toasted laver into thin slices
with kitchen scissors.

TOPPING
3: Chopped Green Onion (파, pa)

● Finely
chop 1 green onion.

DDEOKGUK

1.
Soak rice cake ovals in water overnight or at least for an hour before cooking. Otherwise, your soup will turn out super sticky
and thick.

Dried and frozen rice cakes need reconstituting.

2.
Place dried
Korean anchovy powder, dried pyogo (shiitake) powder, and dried dasima (sea
tangle) powder in a large pot, add 4 cups of water, and bring to boil over high
heat for about 5 minutes. Then reduce
the heat to medium and boil for another 10 minutes.
(If you choose to use these ingredients as is, not powdered, then
remove them from the broth when simmering is done.)

3.
Add in 1 TBSP of gukganjang (optional).
Salt and pepper the broth to taste. Add in 2 tsp minced garlic. (If you choose to use the egg directly into a bowl, pour the beaten egg
over the soup now.)

4.
Add rice cake ovals and cook for 3~4 minutes.
When the rice cake ovals start to float, remove the pot from the heat. Otherwise, the rice cake ovals will be overcooked and
the soup too sticky.